Don't Look, The Shadows Breathe
by SuperDeathPiggy
Summary: Devi has done a good job avoiding Johnny C. after their disastrous first date, but what will happen when their paths cross? Rated M, Because I'm paranoid.
1. Going out

Disclaimer: I don't own JTHM, Jhonen does.

**AN: This is my first ever fanfic, so please comment, constructive criticism and flames are welcome, I guess. **

"Johnny, I hate it when you're so mopey," Reverend MEAT called out from his overturned box. "You should go out tonight, maybe get one of those Freezie things you like so much?"

In the other room, Johnny C. sat on his grungy old couch, trying to drown out the Burger Boy's voice, "Shut up Meat! I'm not in any mood for your shit." He put his head in his hands. It had been almost five months since he had left on his "Holiday". He hadn't gone far, just out into the country a bit, and visited the ocean. It was very peaceful there, a nice place to think, much like the hill outside of town.

"Aah," Meat chuckled. "As you may have already figured out by now; you have miserably failed at ridding yourself of emotions. It's impossible for your kind to become numb to everything, so stop trying, and do something productive. Have you tried knitting? I heard it relieves stress."

He was right, the homicidal maniac hadn't become numb in the least, but he was fairly sure that the Doughboys were gone for good, and that the moose in the basement was gone as well. But as of now, the burger boy's words were severely angering him.

"FUCK!" Johnny exploded. "Fine, I'll go out if you shut the fuck up!" With that, Meat's ominous voice cut off, leaving Johnny alone in the house. The homicidal maniac pushed himself off of the couch and strode toward the front door and grabbed his black trench coat and car keys. As he stepped out the door, he paused.

"Huh," he said to himself. "It's such a nice night out, so very rare these days, I think I'll walk." he turned around, opened the door, and carelessly threw the keys inside the house. He then hopped down the steps of his home and made his way to the nearest 24/7.

TBC

**AN: Okay, so that was the first chapter of "DO YOU REMEMBER?"**

**Is it an okay title? It took me forever to think of a title. I don't know why. **

**I'll try to update as soon as I can, the next chapter WILL be longer, and I think I'll post very two days, but I won't be all " If you guys don't comment, then I wont post anything!!!" Because that's kind of suck-ish, in my opinion.**

**- Jessicka**


	2. And then there were three

**A/N: I don't own it. (Sad Face)**

Nny avoided the people on the streets, stepping around them quickly, as to avoid any contact. When he finally reached the small convenience store/gas station, a nice Brainfreezie sounded pretty good. So, Without another thought, he walked through the automatic doors.

Striding to the back of the store, where the giant Brainfreezie machine stood, he grabbed an "Extra Big Ass" sized cup **(AN: 'Idiocracy' Reference!!)**, and turned to the row of flavors. Passing over the disgusting "Icy Ham" flavor, he stopped at "Cherry DOOM", put the cup under the tube, and pressed down on the lever. Nothing. "Again?" he thought. Frowning, he turned and strode towards the counter at the front of the store, where a teenage boy with horrendous acne was reading a magazine.

"Excuse me?" Johnny asked. The boy looked up with a bored expression.

"Yeah?" The boy sighed. "What do you want?"

Johnny was a little offended, but tried to ignore it. "There's something wrong with your Brainfreezie machine again."

The boy turned the page of his magazine. "We turn them off at two am." Johnny's patience was wearing thin.

"Well, maybe you could turn them back on?" He asked, trying to be nice. The teenager just seemed to be annoyed anyway.

"No! Just buy something else and get the fuck out, I'm busy!" He said, turning back to his magazine. At this, Johnny seemed to snap. He lurched forward, grabbing the boy by his greasy shirt.

"You FUCKING asshole!" Johnny screamed in the teen's face. "You don't deserve life! Why would I let you live after you treated me like some salty pain in your ass, you disgusting bag of pig shit!" He turned to pull out the poorly hidden handgun out from under the counter, and pointed it at the boys head. By now, the teen was a sobbing, blubbering wreck, choking out words like "I'm sorry!" and "I'll turn them back on".

"NO! The moment's ruined yet again! You think you can just ignore somebody, and then get annoyed when someone asked a simple FUCKING question! People like you make my life absolute HELL!"

The homicidal maniac was too busy ranting about the boy's wrong-doing, that he failed to hear the chime at the front of the store, signaling that someone had come into the store.

"And I won't get a Brainfreezie, and it's YOUR fault!"

The boy looked past him, eyes fixed on something. "M-miss?! Please, could you help me?! Oh God PLEASE HELP ME!" He sobbed.

Johnny whirled around, still holding onto the boys collar, to look at the supposed "Miss" that the kid had been referring to, and immediately stopped breathing.

Devi stood at the entrance of the store, paused mid-stride, jaw dropped and eyes wide. Johnny let go of the boy and dropped the gun, letting it fall onto the counter noisily. "Devi!...I...I..." He stuttered, half shocked that she was here, and half ashamed that she had seen the conflict. Suddenly, He heard a short click, like metal against metal, like the sound of a gun being cocked. he spun around, coming face to face with the boy, gun in his hands, pointed at Nny. He lunged at the teen, reaching for the gun, but it was too late, the trigger was pulled, and the bullet hit Johnny. The force pushed him backwards, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground, slamming his head on the tile.

"SHIT!" Devi shouted, running over to Nny's side and kneeling down, "Oh God, Johnny, Don't die, Just please don't die!" She said to herself and started looking for the bullet hole, completely forgetting the Senior Salsa chips that Tenna had sent her out to get.

Suddenly, Johnny groaned. Devi sighed, looking at him.

"Well, he's obviously hurt, You can take him to your apartment, clean him up a bit. He obviously won't try anything, I doubt he could even stand." The familiar voice of Sickness wormed its way into her head. Devi sighed as another groan escaped Johnny's lips. She looked down at him again, seeing him writhe in pain, and stood back up again, searching for something to stop the blood that was quickly pooling around him. She spotted a rack of paper towels and grabbed a roll, returning to the wounded homicidal maniac.

She unrolled half of it and set in on the floor next to her, and looked for the bullet entrance. Putting her arm around Nny's torso, she slowly brought him up to a sitting position, and supported his weight (which wasn't much) against her shoulder, and gently pulled his shirt off, setting it on the floor. She set him back down, looking over his torso, and found the bullet hole. Luckily, it had only went through his shoulder, and lodged itself in the ceiling. She quickly soaked up some of the blood and fished around the pockets of her black trench coat, looking for her cell phone.

"Damn." she cursed, realizing that she had left it at home next to her car keys when she had decided to walk. She stood, striding over to the counter. She found the boy, in the fetal position, crying.

"Hey, uh, guy-who-shot-Johnny?" She asked, poking the guy in the shoulder, trying to get his attention. He looked up at her, snot basically covering up his entire face. "Where's the phone?"

The boy reached under the counter and handed an old school phone, attached to a phone line. She put the handset to her ear and dialed Tenna's phone number. It barely rang for a second before the overly excited friend picked up the phone.

"Hello?! Who is this?" Tenna squealed, squeaking Spooky several times.

"Tenna?! It's Devi. Listen, I need you to pick me up at the 24/7, Bring blankets, I'll explain later. Hurry!" Devi slammed the phone down on the counter, and ran back to Johnny. She sat on the floor, next to him, checking the paper towels. They had soaked almost all the way through, she was starting to panic; he had lost a lot of blood.

"Johnny?" Devi asked, He groaned, and slowly opened his eyes, squinting in the glaring light of the convenience store. "Uuh....Are you okay?" She mentally slapped herself at that. Of course he was NOT okay, he was just shot, and was bleeding uncontrollably. God, she needed to do something.

"Unn....Pressure....on bullet wound........I just wanted a Freezy.....Fucking life...." Johnny mumbled, slipping back into unconsciousness. Of course! She had been so stupid! She unrolled the other half of the paper towels, and pressed them lightly to Nny's wound. Blood instantly soaked into the paper, but slowed progressively in a couple seconds. She calmed down, at least the wound had clotted a little.

She heard the screeching of tires, and looked up, to find that Tenna had parked her black Jetta In the parking lot and was running towards the store.

"Holy Crap, Devi!" She yelled, squating next to Johnny. "What's wrong with this guy?"

Devi sighed. "Tenna, do you remember the guy I went out with a couple of months ago? I didn't go outside for a couple weeks after? You know?" She waited patiently, as Tenna's head swung from her, to johnny, and back again.

"OH MY GOD!!!" She screamed. "That's Johnny?! He's bleeding! Did you kick his ass again?! Way to go, DEVI!! OH GOD HE'S SHOT!! Did you SHOOT HIM?!?!"

"Tenna SHUT UP!" She yelled at Tenna, making her end her rant abruptly, and listen to Devi explain her story.

"Okay?" Tenna said, a little confused, but whatever.

"So," Devi said. "I need you to drive us to the apartments. I need to help him, Tenna" Devi looked at her friend. Tenna wore a look that said "Are you fucking crazy?!"

"Are you serious?!" Tenna said, shaking her head. "You really want to take this maniac with you to your HOUSE?!"

Devi looked down at Johnny, seeing him in pain, and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"...Alrighty then!" Tenna said. "Lets get this psycho in my car!"

With that, Devi slid an arm carefully under Nny's torso, and slowly brought him up into a sitting position. "Tenna, Get his other side." Tenna did the same, and they lifted him up.

The two women slowly made their way to Tenna's parked Jetta, which was conveniently parked right outside of the 24/7. Tenna let go of Johnny, resting his weight on Devi's shoulder while she opened the back door of the car. Devi slowly set Johnny on the seat, running back inside the store.

She picked up Nny's Shirt, and the peroxide for good measure. She turned and looked over at the Freezie Machine. 'He really wanted one,' She thought to herself. 'maybe I should get one for him.' she strode over to the teen, now rocking back and forth and mumbling about bunnies and marshmallows, and Devi almost felt bad for the boy.

"Hey," she said, getting his attention. "How do you turn on the Freezie machine?" he stared at her for a moment, thinking. Suddenly, he stood and skipped over to the machine, reaching around the back of it, and the machine whirred to life.

She grabbed two "extra big-ass" cups, hoping that Nny likes cherry DOOM, as the other flavors were kind of nasty. After filling them up, she grabbed two lids and straws, and ran out of the store.

When she reached the car, Tenna was already in the car. "Hey, Sorry Devi, Spooky ALWAYS get's to ride shotgun." she said apologetically. Devi just sighed and handed Tenna the two cups. She opened the back door, and bent to lift Nny's head up, sliding into the backseat, setting Johnny's head on her lap. Tenna handed her the cups and set the Jetta in reverse. Backing out of the parking place, Tenna began blabbering on about nightclubs and ham, and Devi just rolled her eyes and looked down at Nny. He looked kind of peaceful. He was unconscious, and probably in an extreme amount of pain, but still. She wondered about what he'd been doing since she last saw him, and if he was still murdering. She shook her head, willing the thoughts away. She would just clean him up a bit, maybe feed him something, and send him on his way. She didn't feel anything for him any more, right?


	3. Burn

Devi sat on the floor of her living room, her back against the couch, drinking hot chocolate. She and Tenna, with some difficulty, finally got Johnny into the apartment, and Devi wrapped gauze around Johnny's shoulder. Tenna left as soon as she and Devi walked through the door, clearly uncomfortable about the homicidal maniac currently sprawled on the couch. After she left, Devi put the Brainfreezies in the freezer and made herself some hot chocolate. ((**A/N: HOT CHOCOLATE!!!!! I swear, I have the attention span of a gnat.))**

A movement shook her out of her thought, making her look over at Nny. He was shivering, teeth chattering lightly. She stood, and grabbed the black and purple skeleton blanket off of the back of the couch, and draped it over Nny's thin frame. She moved, and began unbuckling his steel tipped boots, pulling them off his feet. She set them on the floor, and took another sip of her hot chocolate. She strode over to her stereo and and set her Ipod on shuffle, needing some background music.

She stepped into her kitchen, looked around the cupboards for something edible. She hoped Johnny liked SpaghettiO's, because that was all she had. She dumped the contents of the two cans into a pot and turned on the stove. She faintly heard the intro to "Burn" by The Cure in the other room, causing Devi to giggle. She loved this song as a teenager, and her parents hated it. She walked quickly over to the player, and turned up the swayed her hips to the rhythm as she sung along to the lyrics:

"Don't look don't look" the shadows breathe  
Whispering me away from you  
"Don't wake at night to watch her sleep  
You know that you will always lose  
This trembling adored  
Tousled bird mad girl... "

In the living room, Nny groaned, finally surfacing from unconsciousness((**A/N: Unconsciousness? That's a word, right?))** His eyes shot open, looking around frantically at his surroundings.

"Where the fuck AM I?" he mumbled to himself, then his memory kicked in. The 24/7, The gun, Devi, everything. "Oh yeah," he said, rubbing his head, an ache settling in. "Jesus, Am I at Devi's?"

But every night I burn  
Every night I call your name  
Every night I burn  
Every night I fall again

He carefully sat up, wincing as the movement pulled at the gauze. Wait, gauze? He looked down at his shoulder, and saw the white fabric wrapped around his shoulder, a shocking red color splashed in the center. 'She touched me?' He thought to himself, 'Where's my shirt?' He stood slowly, trying not to pull at the wound, and turned around, he heard a familiar song playing on a stereo on a shelf a few feet away, and another voice overlapping the one playing. He strode over to a doorway, and listened.

"Oh don't talk of love" the shadows purr  
Murmuring me away from you  
"Don't talk of worlds that never were  
The end is all that's ever true  
There's nothing you can ever say  
Nothing you can ever do... "

It was Devi. He was sure, he had practically memorized her voice from when they had talked in the bookstore all those months ago. He looked around the corner, and sure enough, Devi was standing by a stove, stirring something in a pot and singing along to the song.

It kind of reminded him of their relationship, how the Doughboys got him to almost "Immortalize the moment", Which ended with her kicking the shit out of him, and leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood. He regretted it every moment of every day, often thinking of what might have been.

Still every night I burn  
Every night I scream your name  
Every night I burn  
Every night the dream's the same  
Every night I burn  
Waiting for my only friend  
Every night I burn  
Waiting for the world to end

He shook his head, willing away the troubling thoughts, he looked at her again. Her hair was now Purple, and she was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. She didn't realize he was watching her; her hips swaying to the music, and her voice singing the lyrics, she was truly beautiful.

He smiled at how she shook her head, and motioned with her hand at the words. She lifted a spoon out of the pot, and tasted the food. Nodding her head and turning off the burner, she turned around and was face to face with Johnny.

She jumped, startled at the man leaning against the door frame, a frightened look on her face. She calmed down after a second, and smiled. "Hey, how're you feeling?"She asked, opening a cupboard and pulling out two bowls. "I made SpaghettiO's, They're not fancy, but that's all I had." She set the bowls on the counter.

"I..Uh.." Johnny trailed off, surprised at how calm Devi seemed to be. He was expecting fear and maybe a little bit of blinding rage, not a devastating calm. "Why am I here? Don't you hate me?" He asked, a little afraid of her answer.

Devi turned toward him, looking him in the eye. "I saw you get shot. With a gun. You were unconscious, so I decided to take you here to see if you were okay. You could have DIED, Nny, For Christ's sake!" She said, waving her arms slightly.

Johnny rubbed his arm, looking down at his feet. "I've had worse, from you, and definitely from myself, But thanks. You know, for helping me."

Devi smiled a little, "No problem, Do you want some Skettios?"

Johnny smiled. "Oh God, yes. I love SpaghettiO's!" He watched Devi, as she filled the two bowls with Steaming O's, and handed one to Nny. She grabbed two spoons out of a drawer, and handed one to him also.

"Oh, and I got you this." She said as she turned and walked over to her fridge, and opened the freezer door. She pulled out a Brainfreezie, and handed it to Johnny, who looked shocked.

"You...You got me a Brainfreezie?" He asked, touched that she cared enough to get it for him.

Devi smiled, pulling hers out, too. "Yeah, you mumbled something about wanting one sometime after you passed out, so I got one. I asked the dumb-ass kid behind the counter, and he just rocked back and forth and mumbled about bunnies or something, so I turned it on myself, and there you go, Brainfreezie!" She said with a wave of her hand. Sucking some of the freezie out of the cup.

She turned and walked out of the kitchen, and turned off the stereo, walking back and grabbing the bowl of O's and sitting on the couch.

Johnny followed her, sitting down awkwardly on the farthest point of the couch. "So, uh, what have you been up to?" He said, hoping to break the awkward silence.

She thought for a moment. "Well, 'I quit working at Dragon's Books to work at Nerve publishing. I worked there as a graphic artist, painting and drawing and what-not, but my boss kept telling me at the last minute to change everything in the painting, so I went nowhere in the creative process. So, I quit and now I'm working at Slave Labor Graphics. They actually listen to me and give me extra time if I need it. One of the book covers that I painted is going to be published next month, so I'm really excited." she finished, looking over at Nny, who was smiling some-what sadly.

"I'm really happy that you're following your dream, Devi." He whispered. She looked over to him, and saw that he was staring at the floorboards, a small, yet sad smile on his face.

_Your friend thought he could fight us, too._

"Nny..." She trailed off, Johnny lifted his head to look at her. "You know when you called me and left that really long message? You said something about the Doughboys. Who where they?" she asked. Nny frowned, thinking for a moment.

"Well," He trailed off, fiddling with a stray fiber on his pants. "Um, the Doughboys were these styrofoam Pillsbury Doughboys that I guess I painted some time ago, I don't remember exactly when. They would talk to me. They, uh..." He trailed off, thinking for a moment.

"The Doughboys lived off the individuality of your mind. They leeched off of your creativity, causing you to go insane." Devi blurted out. Johnny snapped his head up to her, eyes wide.

"How...How did you know that?" He asked, trying to look calm, but Devi could see that he was slightly terrified.

"Because," Devi said, taking a deep breath. "They came after me, too."


End file.
